State yesterday after gunmen, suspected
to be members of the Islamist sect, Boko
Haram, attacked a secondary school.
Twenty students and a teacher were
killed.
The gunmen raided Government
Secondary School, a boarding school at
Mamudo, on the outskirts of Potiskum,
the commercial hub of Yobe State which
has been a flashpoint in the Boko Haram
insurgency.
Spokesman for the Joint Task Force in the
state, Lt. Lazarus Eli, confirmed the
casualties figure.
He said four others were injured in the
dawn attack.
However, sources at the Potiskum
General Hospital said 42 dead bodies
were deposited in the hospital
The federal authorities approved an
immediate deployment of more troops to
the area while the National Security
Adviser (NSA), Mallam Sambo Dasuki
ordered a probe of the massacre.
The Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Mallam Aminu
Tambuwal condemned the attack and told
the security agencies to live up to their
responsibilities.[
The gunmen struck at about 5.30am
yesterday.
Some of the pupils were burned alive in
the attack, the worst of the three by the
sect, since the declaration of a state of
emergency in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa
by President Goodluck Jonathan on May
14 to end the reign of terror unleashed
by the fundamentalists mainly on the
North.
The teacher, Mohammed Musa, an English
language instructor, was shot in the chest
according to another teacher, Ibrahim
Abdu.
Parents screamed in anguish as they tried
to identify the charred and gunshot
victims.
A farmer Malam Abdullahi, found the
bodies of two of his sons, a 10-year-old
shot in the back as he apparently tried to
run away, and a 12-year-old shot in the
chest.
"That's it, I'm taking my other boys out of
school," he told The Associated Press as
he wept over the two corpses. He said he
had three younger children in a nearby
school.
"It's not safe," he said. "The gunmen are
attacking schools and there is no
protection for students despite all the
soldiers."
"We were sleeping when we heard
gunshots. When I woke up, someone was
pointing a gun at me," said 15-year-old
Musa Hassan.
He put his arm up in defense, and
suffered a gunshot that blew off all four
fingers on his right hand, the one he uses
to write with.
He said the gunmen came armed with
jerry cans of fuel that they used to torch
the school's administrative block and one
of the hostels.
"They burned the children alive," he said,
the horror showing in his wide eyes.
He and teachers at the morgue said
dozens of children from the 1,200-
student school escaped into the bush but
have not been seen since.
Some bodies are so charred they could
not be identified, so many parents do not
know if their children survived or died.
"From accounts of teachers and other
students who escaped the attack, the
gunmen gathered their victims in a hostel
and threw explosives and opened fire,
leading to the death of 42," one source
said.
He said security personnel were combing
the bushes around the school in search of
students who were believed to have
escaped with gunshot wounds.
"So far, six students have been found and
are now in the hospital being treated for
gunshot wounds," he added.
Another resident who does not want to
be named said: "It was a gory sight.
People who went to the hospital and saw
the bodies shed tears. There were 42
bodies, most of them were students.
Some of them had parts of their bodies
blown off and badly burnt while others
had gunshot wounds."
He said the attack was believed to be a
reprisal by the Boko Haram Islamists for
the killing of 22 sect members during a
military raid in the town of Dogon Kuka
on Thursday.
Lt. Eli said more security men had been
deployed to the area for cordon and
search operation.
The fundamentalists had, on Sunday, June
16 attacked Government Secondary
School in Damaturu, killing five students.
Twenty four hours after, they also
attacked a Private Primary/Secondary
School in Jajeri Ward of Maiduguri, killing
seven students who were writing their
National Examination Council (NECO)
exam.
The Yobe State commissioner for Lower
Education, Alhaji Almin Mohammed, said
at that time that the state government
had deployed security men across school
in the state to protect students and
teachers.
He also promised that the schools would
be fenced round.
This is yet to be done.
The militants are increasingly targeting
civilians, including health workers on
vaccination campaigns, teachers and
government workers.
Farmers have been driven from their land
by the extremists and by military
roadblocks, raising the spectre of a food
shortage to add to the woes of a people
already hampered by the military's
shutdown of cell phone service and ban
on using satellite telephones.
In a separate attack in Karim Lamido,
Taraba State, suspected Islamist gunmen
fired on a police station and a bank killing
three policemen.
A police official said the attackers blew up
the bank's vault with dynamite and made
off with the cash.
The hit-and-run strikes suggest that the
seven-week-old military offensive has
pushed the insurgents into hiding, but
failed to stop them launching devastating
attacks.
Taraba, which has been only rarely
attacked by the sect, is not covered by
the military offensive, so the heist there
may be a sign the assault has pushed the
militants into other areas.
Security agencies gave approval for the
immediate deployment of more in and
around Potiskum as a first step in dealing
with the situation while the NSA ordered
a probe into the massacre.
A top source speaking on the
development yesterday said: "We
suspected reprisal by insurgents of Boko
Haram but investigation is still in
progress. We learnt they raided the
school after the students had gone to
bed, set it on fire and as students were
scampering to safety, they opened fire on
them.
"The military authorities have deployed
more troops in and around all villages
surrounding Mamudo and Potiskum in
order to track down the fleeing gunmen.
"The troops have specific order to cordon
off the area, comb all villages around and
arrest the gunmen who perpetrated the
attack.
"As I am talking to you, the overnight raid
is still continuing in all the villages and
suspected cells of the insurgents.
"We are acting on intelligence report that
the gunmen might have established bases
in some villages in and around Mamudo."
Another source said: "The Special Force
has done well to restore order to Yobe
State but what we have witnessed now
suggests a change of tactics by the
insurgents. The innocent are now being
attacked.
"Now that schools have become targets of
attacks, we will respond appropriately to
the latest challenge."
It was gathered that a preliminary report
on the incident has been prepared.
"In spite of a preliminary report, a
comprehensive investigation is ongoing
and within the next 24 hours, the NSA
would have received the details," a
source told The Nation.
Another source at the Defence
Headquarters, said: "I do not have the
details on Yobe incident now but as soon
as I get it, I will brief you."
A report by the Yobe State Emergency
Management Agency (SEMA) recently
revealed that 99 persons were killed
across the state this year while 135
others were either injured or had their
houses burnt during different attacks.
Tambuwal last night described the killings
at as ignoble, wicked and horrendous.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on
Media and Public Affairs, Mallam Imam
Imam, the Speaker said: "No reason can
be given to justify such dreadful act."
He tasked security agencies to fish out
perpetrators of the dastardly act and
bring them justice, saying the gains
recorded by security agencies in their
battle against terror in the country in
recent weeks should "be built upon in
order to protect the citizens at all times."
While expressing sympathy with the
families of the victims, Tambuwal urged
Nigerians to be more vigilant and to help
security agencies with useful information
to help secure their areas.
"He said the National Assembly will, at all
times, give necessary support to ensure
that peace and security is restored in all
parts of the country."
Source: the nation
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